February Books

I read a dozen books in February.

Fiction:

1. Mischief, Mayhem, and Marriage by Rebecca Connolly: to save a lady from rumors of a nonexistent scandal, Lord Harwood marries her. Such a fun take on the marriage of convenience trope! Enchanting, sweet, and beautifully written. Possibly my favorite out of all 40+ of Rebecca Connolly's books.
2. Here for It by Melanie Jacobson: second book in the New Orleans series. Extroverted supermodel meets introverted record store owner in an online music nerds group and they meet in person and start to like each other. Set at Mardi Gras, with interesting background info. Like the first book in this series, I loved the rich setting and ambience. I also liked what a big role the characters from the previous book had in this book  it was fun seeing them again. The main characters in this one, however, were kind of frustrating. This was a not very romantic struggle to make a potential relationship work, haha.
3. *Maid of Dishonor by Gracie Ruth Mitchell: re-read in preparation for the new release of book 2 in this series. Cute and fun writing voice, just like I remembered.
4. Say Yes to the Hot Mess by Gracie Ruth Mitchell: sequel to Maid of Dishonor. Single mom of a baby moves into a seniors neighborhood to be near her uncle, and falls in love with the site manager who lives next door. So many sweet scenes, and as always I loved Gracie Ruth Mitchell's writing voice. This one is on my re-read/to-purchase list for sure!
5. The Nice Guy Next Door by Haley Zaragoza: woman raising her teenage younger sister falls in love with their new next door neighbor. She's in denial for 90% of the books though, so the story was a bit maddening while also being fun and sweet.
6. Falling for the Suitor by Holly Kerr: a Bachelor dating show story, with one guy narrowing down 25 girls on TV. I don't know why I finished this one. It was too much like actual reality TV. Not much finesse in the plot, characters, or writing. It was a closed door romance, but not squeaky clean by any means--language and innuendo, mostly. Not enough to completely have me closing the book, but enough to make me roll my eyes at the pointless additions. This was the first book I read by Holly Kerr, and I don't think I'll read any more of hers.
7. Sandover Beach Memories by Emma St. Clair: guy's long lost love moved back to town and they both work on their weaknesses while falling in love. A sweet Christian romance, set on the North Carolina coast. Even though Christian lit isn't generally my thing, I really like Emma St. Clair's brand of theology. She isn't too heavy handed with applying solid Christian principles to her flawed characters and after a few mega fluff books (and an icky one), I felt in the mood for something a bit more real.
8. Sandover Beach Week by Emma St. Clair: woman hiding from her abusive ex fiance finds community,  friendship, healing, and love on a North Carolina island. This one was good but the final showdown with the abusive guy was scary and sad. Still solid Christian themes that rang true, but with a heavier plot than I usually read for pleasure.
9. Sandover Beach Christmas by Emma St. Clair: girl falls in love with the grumpy policeman who gave her a speeding ticket after her mom invites him over for Christmas. Another sweet redemption style Christian romance.
10. Sandover Beach Forever by Emma St. Clair: girl meets a guy, has a crush on him, then finds out her dad just got engaged to his mom. Another sweet Christian love story. Definitely need to be in a certain mood for this type of book, but I saved this series till the mood struck and it was worth it. Also: now I want to visit the Outer Banks!

Non-fiction:

1. That They May Be One: a gay Mormon's perspective on faith and family by Tom Christofferson: uplifting thoughts on being gay and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tom Christofferson is Elder D. Todd Christofferson's (of the quorum of the twelve apostles) younger brother. After serving a mission, Tom left the church when he was in his 20s and lived with a gay partner for 19 years before coming back to the church. What a journey of faith, full of such good examples of a family working to love each member no matter what. A lot of this read like a church talk, when I was expecting more of a life story, but there were beautiful insights that really helped me see the challenges and the massive amount of faith it takes LGBTQ members to stay in the church. I'd classify this as a good-human book, one that I think every human would benefit greatly from reading. Faith isn't just for the heterosexual binary.
2. *The Book of Mormon: ALWAYS: truth, light, peace, and love. I started reading it this time around back in October, but I finished partway through February, so it made the Feb book list.

Unfinished: 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: A "non-fiction novel" that tells the true story of a mysterious murder that happened in a Savannah, Georgia mansion in the 1980s. The author writes evocatively and had a talent for sketching quirky real-life characters. Sadly, I got a third of the way through the audiobook and hit a rough patch where the descriptions and tone as he sketched a drag queen character just gave me a pit in my stomach. It was mostly euphemisms, but they were clear enough to make me feel rotten. It wasn't the usual kind of explicit/dark content that I avoid, but it quenched the spirit so I decided to stop listening. I really wanted to read this book because I'm interested in the city of Savannah, Georgia and this book is so famous, it still brings tourists to Savannah nearly 30 years after it was published. I still got a very well-written taste of Savannah as a town, even from the small section of this book that I read, though, so I'm satisfied.

Even though I dislike reading books with certain content, this book did spark a lot of thought on the line between learning from books and being darkened by books. My tolerance for darkness or tough topics is much higher in non-fiction books. It all goes back to my reasons for reading. I read fiction for an escape, and I read non-fiction to expand my mind and learn new perspectives. But there is still a point where even non-fiction goes too far. It's a book-by-book assessment because each author handles tough topics differently. A horrific topic in the right hands educates more than darkens me. Maybe that's what I seek in non-fiction: a balance between topic, words, light, and darkness. I can't say the exact percentages of each that I can live with, and I'm not always in the mood to tackle potential tough books, but I do value learning outside my bubble.

Quotey McQuote time!

Quotes from That They May Be One by Tom Christofferson: I underlined so many passages of this book! It was super hard to narrow down my highlights to these six quotes.

"Being gay and Mormon is a doubly rich existence for me—a unique way of being, existing, relating to the world, and sharing the light, love, intelligence, and truth of God and my relationship to Him."

"[My mother said] 'The only thing we can really be perfect at is loving each other.' Then she addressed my brothers and sisters-in-law and said, 'The most important lesson your children will learn from how our family treats their Uncle Tom is that nothing they can ever do will take them outside the circle of our family’s love.'" 

--This is an absolutely beautiful example of the pure love of Christ and applying it to every person.

"They weren’t waiting for me to return to church before they could fully love me, and so through them I came to understand the meaning of unqualified love."

"Many of us are living testimony that there indeed is a place in the Church for LGBTQ people; more important, the opportunities to mature, grow, and season in the things of the Spirit are available to all, gay and straight, if they will do the work to access them and support is given to assist them in that work."

"Accepting others does not mean that we condone, agree with, or conform to their beliefs or choices, but simply that we allow the realities of their lives to be different from our own."

"More fulsome and more expansive ways to understand all our relationships and connections may be forthcoming, but meanwhile it is my determination to live the law I have."

Quotes from Fiction: My fiction wasn't as fluffy as usual in February. Less humor, more thoughtfulness. I guess February was for digging deeper and pondering.

"The pair of you are so dreadful in reference to each other, and yet I adore you both individually." --Rebecca Connolly, Mischief and Mayhem
--When I read this quote, I immediately thought of Em and Jeff. This is them: dreadful in reference to each other (they have very different views), but individually lovable. Hah! Why do so many book quotes remind me of my sister Em? Maybe because our relationship is a conundrum--we are so different it makes no sense that we are close even though we are, and many authors deal with unlikely relationships. 

"I am lucky to be here. Back home, the real world is trundling along, dealing with traffic and overdue invoices and inappropriate comments hissed under the breath. Here, I’m faced with a wall of trees slowly changing into a vista of yellow and orange leaves, the sounds of water gently lapping against a dock and the call of loons, and the question of where to run to this morning." --Holly Kerr, Falling for the Suitor.
--I didn't really like this book overall, but this was a beautiful paragraph that resonated with me on many levels.

"Emily shrugged. “We’re all going to die one way or the other. I’d prefer to die caffeinated.” " --Emma St. Clair in her Sandover Beach series.
--This line made me laugh and reminded me of my sister Em SO perfectly. I guess if your name is Emily, you have an innate affinity for caffeine.

"It was time to do brave things. The kinds of things she normally wouldn’t ever do. Her living list, not her bucket list." --Emma St. Clair in her Sandover Beach series
--I love the idea of a living list. The whole "bucket list" thing has always seemed kind of desperate and morbid to me in a lot of ways--too rushed to truly enjoy each experience. A living list is a much better, more positive name that denotes taking the time to savor each experience. It is so much brighter and happier-sounding than a before-I-kick-the-bucket list. A while-I-live-list. A living list. YES.

"Maybe he didn’t know what to do just yet or what outcome God had. But it was clear that God was working and for right this second, that could be enough." Emma St. Clair in her Sandover Beach series. --The theology in this Christian series was surprisingly wonderful. I thought this quote about living by faith was profound. I like learning how people of other faiths talk about God and experience his love--it enriches and broadens my perspective.